They are sooo cute but they could look deceiving!!! Monkeys are naughty creatures for sure.. Love to play hide and seek with your stuffs! I remembered when I was on a holiday at Pangkor Island, Malaysia, there was a group of us and we visited Monkeys Island. One of the monkeys decided to fool around with us by stealing my friend's shoe and hid it on top of a tree and I saw the other monkey was dragging my friend's bag. We had to chase them off and my friend had to throw a ball to shake up the tree so that the shoe could possibly fall down and it did. Moral of the story: Don't get too near with a monkey, don't wear jewelries if you intend to handle them.
Above: Beautiful city park on a sunny afternoon after the crazy storm the night before at Devonport.
As we were browsing around the park, we discovered this beautiful glass house and we checked out what's inside.
Above: Beautiful garden inside the glass house.
It really feels like heaven. This place reminded me so much of Melbourne's Fitzroy park because there is also a glass house in the middle of the park. Very similar indeed.
Above: Ok, I was obviously trying to portray a FAIL flower.
Enough of the flowers photos. Next, we checked out Brisbane st where the shopping districts are located. We thought that it would be dead since it was Easter Saturday, however to our surprise, shops were opened and we checked out this quadrant mall which offered some shops, cafe & restaurants, florist shops etc. It was a very relaxing environment as it was a public holiday and people were just chilaxing.
Above: A fountain in the middle of quadrant mall.
Next, we walked through this arcade in Brisbane St and found these cute "pillow benches" lying in the middle of the arcade. Look at the blue one leaning against the pole, how creative could people be??? Just amazing!! They are meant to be children-friendly as the ground matt is actually made of soft surfaces so children can bounce around. Not the benches, they are hard as bricks and could hurt you if you try to jump on it (:
After some amount of walking, we were exhausted and starving so decided to have a brunch at a nearby cafe, sorry but I don't remember the cafe's name. It is closed to the water fountain at quadrant mall close to the end of the street at quadrant mall. I had THE best egg florentine EVER in my entire life. If Melbourne's degraves lane is well known for its brunch, then this place has just beaten it and put a shame onto Degraves Lane because the sauce on top of the poached eggs were FANTASTIC beyond unutterable words!!! My friend and I made up a theory and here it goes, we reckon that because this cafe is a family-run business, hence they made everything really carefully, taking their time (because that's how slow it was before we were served) but because they took their time, hence it is much better quality-wise. In comparison, Melbourne is a much bigger city and everything needs to be fastER-paced, hence you won't get as good quality as food made in the countryside with freshER ingredients too!
Look at it!!!!!! I want another one right NOW!!!! Anyways, the one opposite to mine is my friend's half breakfast. She said it was very nice too tempting her to lick the entire plate, now that's gross but you get what I mean.
Who agrees with me that this looks like somewhere in Europe???? Above: Quadrant mall.
We realized it was 2 pm, time to go back to the Inn to check in. Everywhere in the Launceston city is so reachable within walking distant. It is true it is even better if you have a car, in that case, you could explore beyond the city and go to the lavender farm in Bridestowe Estate :(
Interesting, we didn't know this before and just so happened that we are from Melbourne (: I think it's so cool!
Next to this Inn is Grand Chancellor Hotel and when we were on our way to the city park, we saw the board they put outside saying $10 high tea 2-4 pm!! Tempted, we tried and my friend was quite embarrassed initially because we were staying in some cheapo Inn and we acted all confident walk into a 4.5 star hotel. Me? WTF? I don't care lol $10 high tea is soooo cheap!!! Where could you get that elsewhere?? So I convinced my friend and we went.
It was quite late by the time we went so they had to "pretend" to ask the patisserie whether he/she could prepare a set for 2 people. C'mon! There were only 2 tables occupied and don't tell me you don't want to earn more money from us just because we are not there for some old-age reunion! Anyways, the waitress returned and said it is ok and she started setting up our table and poured some tea into our cups. We were trying to be all lady-like and showed some etiquette but soon it collapse because we just don't have the blue blood in us!! I am joking, well... we tried, I am proud to say that!
Above: First row, assorted sandwiches. They were quite nice to say the least. We had a laugh at ourselves because when we tried to observe how other people did that, they seemed to have a chat, took a nibble, have a chat again, took a nibble again. Us in comparison???? FAILED completely! We cleaned up the entire plate before starting a conversation. Who cares anyway? We are tourists, nobody knows us (:
Above: Second row, assorted cakes. The tiramisu is the best one out of the bunch. Again, we cleaned the entire plate just in minutes! We peeked around to see whether it is the same with other guests and to our utter disgust, there were a lot of left-overs. So, people indeed went there just for a chat with their friends over tea, not cakes. Maybe it's just us starving human beings.
Above: Scones!!! I LOVE scones but these ones were horrible!! They were stiff, chewy and just disappointing! I love the scones they serve in Ballarat, soft, warm, melt in your mouth.. Just thinking about it makes me want to go onto 1 hour train journey just to eat the scones! Ok, in reality I am not going to do that but you get my point.
Above: The entire set. As could you catch a glimpse, our table is soooo small and narrow that the whole thing put in the middle didn't encourage any conversations at all! It was hard and awkward to face one another and chat as we were interfered by the metal stand. Hencewhy we just cleaned up the plates in a matter of seconds, put the stand away and chatted properly over tea. Nonetheless, it was a very good experience for us. In the end we ended up forking $17 pp not $10, bluff. Ok, we knew it that it was too good to be true, there must have been some fine prints that we missed as per usual when you are shopping in a mall and you see some stores putting up huge-ass signs 70% discounts then you walk up closer to the store and you spot the two words "Up to" printed in tiny fonts.
We decided to walk around the city afterwards to digest our brunch + high tea. The city was dead empty, not a single problem taking pictures quietly as compared to somewhere more crowded where there would be much more noise in the background of your pictures.
Above: St John st. Look at how dead the city was, not a single car passing by. We were on our way to the seaport (another tourist attraction). We walked along the esplanade and finally reached seaport just 10-15 minutes away from the Inn.
Above: Seaport, Launceston.
Don't be deceived by the sunshine, it was freezing cold!!! With the breeze from the port blowing onto your face, my exposed areas were all frozen by then. We were waiting for the sunset because I really wanted to take the pictures of a sunset. However, I must admit none of us has a good sense of bearing as to where the sun might set! Don't get me wrong, I know where the west side is, however to get a good grip of when is the good time/where is a good place to snap sunset photos, we are definitely terrible at it.
Above: Before the sunset, there is a hotel in Seaport if you enjoy the harbor view with some yachts every single day. There are plenty restaurants along the harbor as well.
Above: My attempt to snap the sunset which obviously fails.
We walked back to the hotel before it got too dark because although walking by yourself in Tasmania cities might not be as dangerous as compared to walking in Thailand in the middle of the night, however we would't want to risk anything at all. Hence we decided to walk back before it gets too dark. We decided to get some dumplings from Dumpling Legend at Elizabeth St and we also got ourselves a bowl of Korean spicy rice cake mixed with noodle (dokbbokki) from Koreana BBQ which is also located at Elizabeth St. There are surprisingly plenty of Asian restaurants in the city. Initially there was none inside the restaurants however, as the night falls, there were more and more people visiting the restaurants. You should see Launceston city during the day and night, it is like straight out of the movie by Will Smith "I am legend" some spooky zombie movies. That's how much quiet this place it, very peaceful nonetheless and full of warm-hearted people.
Above: Our dinner in the hotel room (Korean spicy rice cakes with noodle and some dumplings behind it)
Above: A church across our Inn at night.
We were back to the hotel by 7.30 pm! Slept by 10 pm after watching some movies. One of it being Batman return not even halfway through the movie we just fell asleep. Next day we woke up so fresh and full of energy that we decided to eat breakfast at Seaport and enjoy the harbor view once again before going back to hectic Melbourne that evening. We walked past civic square where we decided to do some silly pose.
Above: My successful attempt!! Location: Civic square.
It was even COLDER than the previous day and us two crazy fella decided to sit outdoor and we were THE only ones who sat outside while having breakfast with frozen hands and face! Drank frozen coffee too!
Above: Salmon Timbale for my breakfast. Very special. Once you cut through it, the gravy sauce just burst out flowing like a larva. Inside is just simple scramble eggs. It tasted....... So good that I lost for words to describe it. Don't ask me what's at the back because I can't remember what my friend ordered. It was something quite special as well because it was a hash brown mixed fried with
chorizos and scramble eggs on top. It was served with chili-like sauce.
After our yummy but torturous breakfast (remember, we sat outside blown by the cold win and drizzle rain), we decided to visit the famous Cataract Gorge. That was recommended in the booklet thingy we picked up from the cruise. Apparently it is well known for its zig zag track for people who love tracking. Apparently, my dad had been there once for international tracking competition. There is also a walking trail shall you choose not to climb the stairs to death.
Above: Reaching Cataract Gorge Reserve.
Above: The sign to inform us that we were on the right tract and we need to choose which path we should take. Before then, we didn't know there was a walking trail available, hence we took the zig zag track not knowing we started climbing up endless stairs.
Losing my breath... I used to do tracking when I was younger alone or with friends and family. My father enjoys it as well which is probably why I do too. Just amazes me how nature could be so beautiful and also thanks to the ranges who actually maintain it so that more and more people could appreciate the beauty of it. Too bad we didn't go earlier because we would have finished the entire tracking adventure. We needed to allow ourselves enough time to walk back to the Inn, check out and go to the airport. Hence, we couldn't complete the track.
There were a few resting spots for tourists to snap amazing photos and simply just to catch a breath.
Above: Cataract Gorge Reserve taken from the entrance bridge. Look at this beautiful river!!!!! Uh-Mazing!!!! I think my photography skill has improved lol
Above: One of the views from the zig zag track.
Above: The bridge where I took the river view earlier on.
I really can't get over the place. We climbed down the stairs and tried on the walking trail.
Above: Art mode . The rest of the photos were taken using expressive mode from My Color modes available in my camera, Lumix GF2. I am very satisfied with how the photos turn out.
Ultimate scenery!!!
We decided to walk back to the city because it seemed like it was about to rain again and we were right, halfway through the drizzle turned into pouring rain though less windy compared to the first night in Devonport. However, the rain wasn't a long-lived one. It was rather short and we decided to walk about the city a bit more before going back to the Inn to decide our transportation options to the airport.
Above: Prince's square at Frederick st.
There is actually a very old church behind this square and there must be a history behind it but we couldn't be bothered to find out. I said so because in the entire Launceston city, you will not find a single building with old paintings on it. Everything is brand new, what I mean here, of course there are a lot of old-style Victorian era buildings. However, the paintings are brand new. You won't spot gravities, vandalism, etc. It was unbelievable for me how "civilized" Tasie people are! I am pretty sure you could be the judge just from seeing my photos here with glimpse of buildings etc.
Above: Now, this one is an exception and I wonder what the story is. I might just google it now. Apparently, it is called Chalmers Church.
Note: Launceston is a very Christianized community. Many more churches than the entire population put together.
We walked back to the Inn afterwards and organized a transport to the airport. We were pick up by a shuttle van, costed us $15 pp whereas if you take a cab it is $20 pp. The entire journey from the central city to the airport was 15 minutes. I must say that Launceston airport is much better compared to Hobart. Also, another thing amuses me is....... I only spotted ONE Maccas in the entire Launceston CBD and it is not even located in the central city! WTF??? How could that be real? Somebody told me before but I didn't believe him now I saw it myself I was perplexed! There is no Nando's and only one KFC in the central city. KFC no Maccas?????? Wow.... Not that I am a fan anyways, just amuses me.
All in all, Launceston is a great city to get away from all the hectic activities haunting us all who live in big cities. Hence, I would recommend it and! When possible, hire a car because you get to explore more because Tasmania is an island with infinite possibilities as they put is "Tasmania: Explore the possibilities" (:
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